Oban's Myths & Legends

What are myths? explained by Oban

Myths are made up stories that try to explain how
our world works and how we should treat each
other.
The stories are usually set in times long ago, before history as
we know it was written.

People have always asked questions like “How did our world come
to be?” or “Why do tornadoes happen?” Some myths answeredthese
questions.

In other myths, gods or “super-beings” used
their powers to make events happen. Or the stories were the adventures
of gods, goddesses, men and women.

These myths described the big things that happened to people and the
choices they made. They might be about triumph (achieving something),
tragedy (losing something), honour (doing the right thing), being brave
even when you are frightened, or being foolish and making mistakes.
People might be heroes in these stories and gods and goddesses could
use their powers to help them or make things more difficult for them.

Around the world, myths were shared by groups of people and
became part of their culture. Storytellers have passed the stories
on from generation to generation and through families. Some myths are
told in many cultures, but with variations in the events or characters.
For example, most cultures, tribes or groups of people have their version
of how our world came to be.

For early people, myths were like science because they explained how
natural events work. Today we don’t always know if myths are
true or not. Some of the stories or characters may seem impossible,
and science gives us different explanations for some of our questions.
But people all over the world still like to read myths and we all like
to think about what they might mean.

“Myth” comes from the Greek word “mythos” which
means “word of mouth”.